Italy slaps Apple with $115 million fine over App Store privacy rules

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Apple just got handed a very Italian-style scolding, complete with a €115 million ($115 million) fine, after regulators decided the company abused its power over the App Store. 

The issue at the heart of it all? Apple’s famous App Tracking Transparency feature, or as Italy’s antitrust watchdog seems to see it: rules for thee, not for me.

The ruling comes from Italy’s competition authority, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), which launched an investigation back in May 2023. 

Regulators were suspicious that Apple was enforcing stricter privacy rules on third-party app developers than on its own apps, a potentially big no-no when you’re the gatekeeper of the App Store.

At the center of the case is App Tracking Transparency (ATT), introduced in iOS 14.5. That’s the system that forces apps to pop up a blunt warning asking users if they want to be tracked. 

Developers must show it the moment a user opens their app, and many users respond the same way they do to spam calls: absolutely not.

According to a report by Reuters, the AGCM concluded that Apple uses its “absolute dominance” to impose ATT on developers while conveniently not applying the same rule to itself. 

Regulators argue that this harms Apple’s business partners and goes beyond what’s necessary to protect user privacy.

There’s just one awkward detail: Apple’s own apps don’t show the ATT pop-up because, according to Apple, they don’t track users across other apps and websites in the first place. 

No tracking, no warning, not exactly a loophole, more like how the system was designed.

Apple, unsurprisingly, “strongly disagrees” with the decision and says the regulator misunderstood how ATT works and ignored its privacy benefits. 

The company plans to appeal, meaning the fine likely won’t be paid anytime soon.

Still, the ruling goes further than a slap-on-the-wrist fine. 

Apple has been ordered to immediately stop the behavior Italy considers anti-competitive and has 90 days to explain how it will comply, unless the appeals process slows everything down.

And this drama isn’t staying in Italy. 

A similar investigation into ATT is already underway in Poland, suggesting Apple’s privacy-versus-power balancing act may face more European scrutiny.